Lotensin HCT News

THURSDAY, Dec. 8, 2016 – Yoga may help reduce blood pressure in people who are at risk for developing hypertension, a new study finds. "Patients with pre-hypertension [slightly elevated blood pressure] are likely to develop hypertension [high blood pressure] unless they improve their lifestyle," said study author Dr. Ashutosh Angrish. He is a cardiologist at Sir Gangaram Hospital in Delhi, India. "Both pre-hypertension and high blood pressure increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and heart failure," Angrish added. The new study included 60 people who had slightly elevated blood pressure but were otherwise healthy. The participants were randomly assigned to either practice hatha yoga while also making conventional lifestyle changes, or to just make the lifestyle changes (the "control" group). The lifestyle changes included moderate aerobic exercise, eating a healthier diet and ... Read more

MONDAY, Dec. 5, 2016 – It's commonly believed that anxiety in the doctor's office causes patients' blood pressure to rise. But for some people, the opposite occurs: Their blood pressure is normal at their medical appointment but elevated the rest of the day. This phenomenon is called "masked hypertension." The best way to uncover it is to wear a small monitoring device for 24 hours, researchers said. For this new study, the researchers had almost 900 healthy, middle-aged patients do just that. The result: Almost 16 percent who had "normal" blood pressure at the clinic learned otherwise after around-the-clock monitoring. "In working individuals who are not being treated for hypertension [high blood pressure], our data show that ambulatory blood pressure is usually higher than clinic blood pressure," said lead researcher Joseph Schwartz. He is a professor of psychiatry and sociology at ... Read more

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 16, 2016 – The number of people worldwide with high blood pressure has nearly doubled over the past 40 years, a new study reveals. At the same time, average blood pressure levels are at an all-time low in the United States and other developed nations, the researchers said. "High blood pressure is the leading risk factor for stroke and heart disease, and kills around 7.5 million people worldwide every year. Most of these deaths are experienced in the developing world," said study author Majid Ezzati, a professor at Imperial College, London in England. "Taken globally, high blood pressure is no longer a problem of the Western world or wealthy countries. It is a problem of the world's poorest countries and people," Ezzati added. The overall number of people with high blood pressure ("hypertension") rose from 594 million in 1975 to more than 1 billion in 2015, due to ... Read more

MONDAY, Nov. 14, 2016 – In some people with high blood pressure, too-steep drops in blood pressure after drug therapy may actually raise their risk of premature death, preliminary findings suggest. Researchers led by Dr. Peter Okin, of Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, tracked data on nearly 8,000 non-diabetic adults who had high blood pressure. The researchers first looked at patients who had systolic blood pressure (the upper number in a reading) of 164 mm Hg or higher before treatment. Patients who reduced that number to less than 142 mm Hg during treatment were 32 percent more likely to die during the study period than those who lowered it to 152 mm Hg or more during treatment, the findings showed. But the scenario was different if systolic blood pressure was below 164 mm Hg before treatment, according to the report. In these cases, when drug treatment lowered systolic blood ... Read more

MONDAY, Oct. 31, 2016 – So-called "white coat hypertension" is mostly harmless, but in some older people it may indicate a risk for heart disease, a new study suggests. White coat hypertension refers to high blood pressure readings in a doctor's office or other medical setting in people who typically have normal blood pressure. This study included 653 people with white coat hypertension and 653 with normal blood pressure. All of the study volunteers were followed for more than 10 years. During that time, there was no difference in the number of new heart problems in either group for people younger than 60. However, among 92 people aged 60 and older, there were 18 more new heart problem cases among those with white coat hypertension than in those without, according to researchers, led by Dr. Stanley Franklin from University of California, Irvine. Franklin's team said the findings ... Read more

THURSDAY, Sept. 15, 2016 – Engaging Americans at high risk for heart disease in aggressive efforts to lower their blood pressure could save more than 100,000 lives a year, a new analysis indicates. Current guidelines recommend a systolic pressure – the top number in a blood pressure reading – of below 140 mm Hg. But a 2015 study from the U.S. National Institutes of Health suggested more lives could be saved if the goal was less than 120 mm Hg. The NIH trial known as SPRINT included adults aged 50 and older with systolic readings of 130 to 180 mm Hg and at high risk of heart disease (but not diabetes or stroke). They had either intensive treatment, with a goal of lowering systolic pressure to less than 120 mm Hg, or standard treatment, with a target of less than 140 mm Hg. The results were so impressive that the NIH halted the trial early. Risk of death from all causes was 27 percent ... Read more

MONDAY, Feb. 15, 2016 – Having a physically demanding job and high blood pressure may triple a woman's risk of heart disease, a new study contends. Researchers looked at more than 12,000 female nurses in Denmark, and found that those with high blood pressure and highly active jobs were much more likely to develop heart disease than those with normal blood pressure and moderately active jobs. "Previous research has shown that men and women with physically demanding jobs have an increased risk of heart disease," said study author Karen Allesoe, a Ph.D. student at the University of Southern Denmark. "The two risk factors appear to work together, resulting in an even greater incidence of heart disease," Allesoe said. "To our knowledge, this has not been shown before among women." However, the study only showed an association for heart disease risk, not a cause-and-effect relationship. The ... Read more

MONDAY, Feb. 1, 2016 – Scientists continue to debate when doctors should prescribe blood pressure medication for older Americans, with a new study saying delayed treatment puts people at greater risk of stroke. For people 60 and older, a U.S. panel in 2014 recommended raising the blood pressure rate at which doctors prescribe treatment from 140 to 150 systolic blood pressure. Systolic blood pressure is the top number in a blood pressure reading. But the new study finds that people with systolic blood pressure of 140 to 149 have a 70 percent increased risk of stroke compared to people with lower blood pressure. "Our study shows the borderline group is probably as risky as having a blood pressure greater than 150, at least for stroke risk," said senior author Dr. Ralph Sacco, chair of neurology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "This was a controversial move, and I ... Read more

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 9, 2015 – Intensive treatment to lower blood pressure below currently recommended levels reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke in patients with high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and kidney disease, a new study shows. Effective blood pressure goals have been the subject of much recent scientific debate, with another recent study also supporting lower targets. For this study, researchers analyzed data from 19 clinical trials that included nearly 45,000 people. They wanted to assess the potential benefits and safety of pushing systolic blood pressure in high-risk patients below the current target of 140. Systolic is the top number in a blood pressure reading. Compared to those who received standard treatment, average systolic pressure was 6.8 lower and diastolic blood pressure was 4.5 lower in patients who received more intensive treatment – 133.2/76.4 ... Read more

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 25, 2015 – People with heart disease should take a number of precautions if they travel over the Thanksgiving holiday, an expert suggests. The first step is to be as well-prepared on your trip as you are at home, said Dr. Winston Gandy Jr., a cardiologist at Piedmont Heart Institute in Atlanta. "Make sure when you travel that you have your medicine," Gandy said in an American Heart Association news release. Some people carry a copy of their original prescriptions in case they lose their medications, but having a list of your medications and your cardiologist's phone number should be sufficient. It's also a good idea to tell your cardiologist where you'll be. "Chances are your cardiologist is going to know someone there, either personally or by reputation," who can provide you with help if needed, Gandy said. Research medical facilities at your destination, and know what ... Read more

TUESDAY, Nov. 3, 2015 – More Americans than ever are taking prescription drugs and they're using more of them, a new study finds. Fifty-nine percent of adults used prescription drugs in 2011-2012, up from 51 percent in 1999-2000. And 15 percent of them took five or more prescription drugs, an increase from 8 percent in the earlier period, the researchers reported. Cholesterol-lowering drugs (statins), antidepressants and high blood pressure medications saw especially notable jumps in usage, the study found. "We wanted to create a comprehensive resource on prescription drug use among U.S. adults, and I think that the implications of these trends vary across classes of drugs," said lead researcher Elizabeth Kantor, who was with the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston at the time of the study. Kantor said an increase in one drug class may mean more people are getting treated for a ... Read more

MONDAY, Oct. 26, 2015 – New research suggests that doctors don't warn younger women when they're at risk for heart disease as often as they warn men. And once younger women suffer a common kind of heart attack, they are less likely to get a common treatment and more likely to die in the hospital. The findings were reported in two separate studies in the Oct. 26 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The disparities between the genders were significant. According to the analysis of 1.4 million heart attack cases, 4.5 percent of women under 60 died in the hospital, compared to 3 percent of comparable men. The death rates for both genders actually went up from 2004-2011. The findings challenge "the mistaken belief that women are not at risk for heart attack and that it is 'a man's disease.' Just because a woman is relatively young, she should not assume that worrisome ... Read more

TUESDAY, Oct. 20, 2015 – Many patients worldwide don't receive generic life-saving heart medicines that are supposedly affordable, a new study reveals. In poor and middle-income nations, these vital medications are often not widely available or are too expensive. In rich countries, as many as half of patients with a history of heart disease or stroke still don't receive them, the researchers found. "Unless both availability and affordability of these medicines are improved, their use is likely to remain low in most of the world," they added. The study is published Oct. 21 in The Lancet. Four classes of heart medicines – aspirin, beta blockers, statins and angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) inhibitors – should be available in 80 percent of communities and used by half of eligible patients by 2025, the World Health Organization says. But compliance currently is far from those targets, ... Read more

TUESDAY, Oct. 13, 2015 – Younger women who've had a heart attack are less likely than men to be taking the appropriate heart medications one year later, new Canadian research shows. These findings underscore previous studies that show fewer women take these drugs than men. Researchers said this discrepancy has important implications for how doctors approach treatment for younger women who've had a heart attack. "The gender gap in treatment initiation among younger women is an important finding because younger women have much worse outcomes after suffering a heart attack than do men of the same age," said study co-author Karin Humphries, an associate professor of cardiology at the University of British Columbia, in Vancouver. "This finding suggests that younger women should be treated aggressively, especially when we have medications that work," Humphries added in a news release from ... Read more

MONDAY, Oct. 12, 2015 – High blood pressure levels should generally be confirmed with home or ambulatory blood pressure monitoring before starting treatment for hypertension, a new U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation says. Many factors can affect blood pressure readings, such as stress, physical activity and caffeine or nicotine, the USPSTF said. And, some people experience "white-coat hypertension" – an increase in blood pressure at the doctor's office from stress – when having their blood pressure taken. All of these factors can make it hard to tell if someone really has high blood pressure, the researchers said. That's why the Task Force recommends confirming a diagnosis of high blood pressure, or hypertension, before starting treatment, unless someone has very high blood pressure that needs to be treated right away. "For most patients, elevated blood ... Read more